1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic approaching and retaining device suitable in particular for watertight doors and/or hatches, especially for boats, i.e. an element adapted to approach and compress an elastic element, such as a gasket, positioned between the fixed element (frame) and the mobile element (wing) of the door assembly.
2. Present State of the Art
The state of the art includes manually operated devices capable of approaching the wing to the frame; in particular, said manually operated devices feature the simultaneous forward movement of a set of nibs protruding from the wing and entering into suitable seats provided on the frame.
The means for controlling said set of nibs are typically positioned on the door wing and comprise at least one handle acting upon a system of levers adapted to drive the set of nibs.
As known, said control means usually comprise a pair of handles located on opposite sides of the door wing.
The control devices known in the art suffer from a few drawbacks.
As a matter of facts, locating said control means on the wing of a door implies a considerable increase in the weight of said door, resulting in disadvantages in terms of ease of closing said door.
Moreover, such an arrangement of the control devices on the door wing does not allow said door to be designed with a large glass area.
A further drawback caused by positioning the control devices on the door wing is that such a solution necessarily involves the use of a very thick wing, which may hinder people from passing through when the door wing is open, in particular in environments where the available room is small; this is especially important when the door is associated with a boat, since it is well known that there is not much room available on such means of transportation.